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Terry Donnelly talks to Mike Mcnamee - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2015

Lewis is a photograph I took of Lewis Hamilton during qualifying in the Abu Dhabi F1 in 2013. I was a guest of Yas Marina racetrack following some work I had recently completed in Dubai, and went looking for a good vantage point to get some photographs. I set up on turn 14, and Lewis Hamilton suffered a suspension failure exiting turn 13 (unlucky for some) and slid off the track and rolled backwards up to the safety fence I was behind.

How do you go about generating ideas for images?
A lot of ideas for my images come from within, by that I mean they come from how I feel about something. An emotion or an experience, even a song, can trigger something in me that gives me an idea for an image. I believe that if an image can provoke a feeling or an emotion in the viewer, even if the viewer is not aware why the image makes them feel a certain way, that is the most powerful form of imagery we can make, and is something I look to do whenever I can.

I know you travel quite a lot, tell us about your overseas commissioned and personal work.
A long-standing client of mine is the largest private developer in Dubai. I have been photographing construction, architecture and finished developments for them for a number of years. I recently shot 11 developments in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, all at various stages of completion. I will often be asked to shoot portrait work and other commercial work on an ad hoc basis when I am in Dubai, once people learn I am over there. I don't tend to get the opportunity to shoot personal work in Dubai, as my time is pretty much taken up working long days. I visit The Channel Islands quite regularly where I work with my good friend Ian Le Sueur on various commercial assignments and sporting events.

You like horses. How did this arise and tell us about the Channel Islands project.
I was actually introduced to horse racing by a chance meeting with my now good friend Ian Le Sueur while I was running a 5k race in Jersey. Ian was providing the event photography, and later asked me to work with him at the island's horse-racing venue, Le Landes Racecourse. Over the last few years I have also worked at UK racecourses while still working alongside Ian in Jersey on many sporting events including motoring, athletics and swimming events. When photographing at horse-race meetings, I have considerations to make for press images and the needs of the racecourse. Alongside these considerations I am constantly on the look out for images I can use for my personal portfolio. For my personal portfolio I always try to shoot images of the horse and rider isolated, or close up. The horse and jockey are a single unit when riding and I love to show that in my pictures. I'm known for shooting head-on race pictures which come from shooting from strategic locations on the racecourse.

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1st Published 01/06/2015
last update 09/12/2022 14:59:36

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